How should organisations leverage intelligent automation (IA) to gain a competitive advantage? This was the key topic at the ISCA Breakfast Talk session on January 12. The live webinar explored IA implementation with Dr Hanny Kusnadi, Deputy Academic Director of MSc (Accounting) programme and Senior Lecturer, Department of Accounting, National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School and Ken Soh, software architect, TagUI RPA, AI Singapore.
IA is an enhanced form of automation that combines elements of robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI). IA can learn from data to augment processes and improve efficiency.
IA is used in the finance function to extract information across different systems to perform tasks, such as billings. It can learn from data to identify discrepancies and duplicate invoices. IA can also use AI abilities like natural language processing to read sales and lease documents to analyse trends and identify outliers.
The live webinar also shared four key findings of the joint research project, “State Of Play Of Intelligent Automation In The Finance Function”, conducted by ISCA, AI Singapore and NUS Business School on IA adoption by organisations in Singapore.
Dr Kusnadi said that first, the research discovered an informational gap between C-suite and working-level respondents on how much work is augmented by IA. Nurturing an open environment with honest and positive feedback is key to bridging this informational gap and enhancing the overall productivity and efficiency of the IA solution.
Second, less than half of C-suite respondents report that they did not modify key performance indicators (KPIs) to capture productivity and efficiency gains. This suggests that the return on investment for IA is not captured. KPIs should be modified to measure the value of IA.
Third, data-driven insights are not shared across departments, resulting in missed opportunities for synergy. These are wasted opportunities. The C-suite should strategise and find synergies to promote better integration of processes. This could, in turn, reflect a better return on investment of the IA solution.
Fourth, efficiency and compliance, and financial costs are the top two priorities when C-suite respondents consider adopting IA solutions. IA adoption often acts as a gateway for further digitalisation.
In the next presentation, Mr Soh described two broad categories of workflows for RPA and IA – enterprise workflows and ad hoc workflows. He explained that companies usually leverage IA by first focusing on enterprise workflows, which spurs ad hoc workflows among employees.
Enterprise workflows are routine, single-process automation that cut across different departments. In the early stages of adopting RPA and IA, most companies focus on enterprise workflows. This requires an assessment of organisational processes to identify suitable processes for automation. As organisations become more mature in their RPA and IA journey, their employees would have developed skills to implement ad hoc workflow solutions to augment their work. Ad hoc workflows usually occur within a department or at the individual level to automate multiple minor repetitive processes.
RPA can be business-led or consultancy-led using software that is either commercial or open source (and free). These choices provide companies with a range of options that differ in affordability and functionality.
By Nil (Singapore)